Inilah pasukan kerja dan keluarga Al Ansar di bawah MITV Coporation. Selama ini, aku jadi wakil pengirim potongan akhbar sampaikan sahabat-sahabat gelar aku pekerja sukarela Al Ansar sejak hampir setahun lalu. Kalau hendak pengalaman, secara peribadi aku mula bergerak sedikit untuk itu, ini adalah stesyen televisyen yang pertama aku jejak dan kini menjalankan operasinya. Insya Allah 23 Oktober 2005, program Ramadhan Kita di KLCC bermula jam 2.00 sehinggalah waktu berbukanya perlu dibuat liputan di sana untuk web Al Ansar (
http://www.ansarchannel.com/). Kalau tidak untuk Al Ansar, mungkin untuk tujuan media cetak. Aku tidak boleh menulis terlalu panjang berkenaan keluarga Al Ansar, baru sahaja berkenal-kenalan dengan mereka yang aku anggap guru dalam dunia penyiaran ini. Orang lama. Kita yang baru, kena banyak belajar dan berkorban sikit. Tapi ada waktunya orang luar tidak faham tujuan pengorbanan kita. Walau apa pun, Doakan kemudahan tugas kecil saya di sana.
Kalau diimbas kembali, aku ingat-ingat lupa. Seingat aku, tahun lalu abang Jeff (yang berkaca mata, duduk) datang ke Jabatan Komunikasi UIAM dan menemui Prof Madya Dr Saodah Wok, ketika itu merupakan ketua jabatan kami. Aku hanya tahu tentang perkara tersebut selepas dua hari, lama benar tidak ke jabatan keculai kalau teringin hendak membaca akhbar. Maka ramai jugalah pelajar-pelajar komunikasi yang menghantar resume mereka ke jabatan selepas membaca pengumuman di papan kenyataan berkenaan sebuah syarikat media penyiaran akan
dibuka dan memerlukan tenaga kerja baru.
Dalam benak aku, cukuplah menjadi pekerja sambilan. Waktu untuk belajar pun masih sedikit lari, inikan hendak bekerja sepenuh masa. Ada sahabat yang melakukan demikian. Apa yang aku lakukan ialah menghantar resume ke email, bukannya melalui jabatan. Entah kenapa aku tergerak buat sedemikian. Seminggu kemudian, saudara Jeff menghubungi, "Boleh datang pada hari Sabtu?" arahan pertamanya yang membawa aku ke pejabat Ansar Channel (sekarang lebih canggih)
Ketika aku ke sana, ada enam lagi yang turut serta. Sebahagian pelajar kejuruteraan, sebahagian pelajar ijazah lanjutan Universiti Malaya dan beberapa lagi. Kemudian minggu seterusnya, seorang menarik diri kerana, 'teman lelaki'nya tak membenarkan.
Tugas kami, nampak remeh tetapi kalau difikirkan, memang penting, ia berkaitan dengan 'isi kandungan' atau 'bahan', dalam bahasa kampungnya (ciptaanku) ialah kerja potong-potong kertas akhbar. Carilah bahan-bahan yang menyentuh personaliti, komuniti, isu, kesihatan dan teknologi. Semuanya amat penting untuk dibuat program dan skrip. Semua alamat dan nombor telefon jabatan perlu ada di tangan untuk memudahkan tugas.
Ini dilihat sebagai perkara-perkara asas yang perlu ada sebelum ke peringkat lebih jauh lagi. Ada waktunya aku dihubungi untuk melakukan tugasan seperti mencari sumber berkenaan perkara-perkara unik dan aneh. Begitulah seterusnya. Kemudian senyap.
Lama juga aku menghantar bahan-bahan melalui e-mail. Sehinggalah aku dihubungi kembali dua minggu sebelum Ramadan untuk aktiviti Ramadhan Kita. Bezanya, rupa-rupa aku tinggal seorang sahaja kali ini, mujurlah Riduan Musa datang bersama dan bercadang untuk turut serta.
Sedikit maklumat tentang Al Ansar Channel. (petikan
http://www.mitv.com.my/portal/citra.asp)
Ansar Channel (Ch. 10)
The first Muslim channel in Malaysia, Ansar delivers healthy fusion entertainment and edutainment based programs for the urban Muslim youths and adults.Ansar features local and international musicals, documentaries, short films, animations, dramas magazine shows and more. Ansar Channel
8Q 3rd Floor Wisma SPS
Jalan Imbi 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia.
Tel: 603 2148 6991
Fax:603 2715 2203
email : info@ansarchannel.com
Interview with Managing Director of Ansar Channel, Cik Nazir Idris
1. Please describe what is Ansar Channel?
- Ansar Channel is the much-awaited channel to emerge from this nation. Malaysia is already globally respected as an exemplary Islamic country. The time has come to answer the call to have a media channel based on Islamic principles and practices dedicated to propagate Islamic values. The benefits of having such channel are absolutely enormous to both Muslims as well as non-Muslims in Malaysia and the rest of the world as Ansar Channel aims to promote the understanding of Islam as a religion of brotherhood, equilibrium, respect, peace and harmony.
2. Why the name Ansar, doesn’t it sounds more Arabic than Malaysian?-
Yes it sounds Arabic because it is an Arabic word, which means ‘helpers’. Islamic heritage can never be separated from Arabic, as our holy Prophet was an Arab. Nonetheless, too many times people perceived Arabic culture, arts and heritage as the yardstick of Islam as a religion whereas actually the understanding of Islam transcends beyond racial, tribal or nationality.- At Ansar Channel we focus on the basic fundamentals in understanding Islam as a religion thus the issue in the spotlight is more relevant for all of us to look at from the spirit of Islamic brotherhood standpoint as opposed to direct referral to a particular race, tribes or nationalities. Still, we are unique in the way we approach it the Malaysian way.
3. How would Ansar Channel position itself in the publics as far as targeting societal niches or segments?-
To begin with, Ansar Channel plans to capture the attention of younger Muslim generations in Malaysia including families, young adults and teenagers as it core viewers, supporters and volunteers. How we position ourselves obviously relates back to our core values that reflect contemporary Islamic lifestyles. However, the approach will be tailored to suit our targeted segments. Literally this means young, expressive, fresh, creative, vocal and bold.
4. Please comment how do you plan to face your competitions in the electronic media industry?
- Like it or not, competition is always there but in the case of Ansar Channel, we believe that we are competing with ourselves. Apparently there’s no textbook to refer on how to run a tv channel based on Islamic core values in Malaysia. Nevertheless, as we believe the actual strength of Islam derived from the Almighty’s will and desire.We hope to get all the support we can obtain from each Muslim individuals and/or organizations out there at least in the form of sincere prayers for us to wade through whatever challenges ahead.
5. Being on MiTV platform, do you think it limits you to get to your intended audience immediately?
- Apart from MiTV platform, public can also experience Ansar Channel via our website, www.ansarchannel.com which is presented compatible with broadband and mobile devices. On top of all these, the channel is moving its community arm as far as organizing series of experiential ground events. By the end of the day, as it is too obvious to miss, we hope the public will realize that this channel is created for them by themselves. As office bearers at Ansar Channel, we are just doing our part in coordinating it for everybody.
6. Realistically being the first also brings more challenges than advantages.
Are you certain it is possible for Ansar Channel to realize its idealisms?- To be honest, we would rather subject the answer to this question on everybody’s shoulder as the level of public participations, involvement and commitment determines the nature of this channel setup. Ideally if we are talking about manifesting Islamic lifestyles in our practical life, definitely we cannot run away from facing contending views, idealisms, understandings and perceptions within the public but we are here to help keeping the focus to leverage the strength in our similarities as well as differences.
7. Media houses survive on selling advertisements. Being a corporate media player, does this means Ansar Channel do the same thing using the goodwill of religion?
- In promoting Islamic lifestyle, we should look at our lives in total continuum that is supposed to be adjacent between worldly and after life. The much-adapted dualism that separated religion from worldly life should become an outdated trend if we realize this undoubted fact. Thus, we believe what we are doing through Ansar Channel is simply putting back the truth to where it belongs. Idealistically for any Muslim entity, individual or corporate, Islamic values cover the whole spectrum of life including business practices or Muamalat. We hope to share this channel with as many people as possible and in doing so; we are looking forward to build symbiotic relationships with everybody.
8. Does this channel exclusively talks about Muslim affairs only?-
It is not realistic to alienate Muslim affairs as an isolate matter. Of course we want to promote Islamic positive values to the publics in order to seek people’s understanding towards Islam but at the same time, it is equally salient for Muslims to understand others.
9. Please describe your tagline, “the common ground”?
- “The common ground” connotes Ansar Channel’s openness to accept Muslims as Muslims without any prejudice. We look at Islamic brotherhood as a tool to unite everybody on similar ground. Everybody is welcome in Ansar. The channel does not belong to any particular entity. It’s meant to be shared.
10. Do you think Ansar Channel can become Malaysia’s number one tv station?-
We aspire to become Muslims’ number one tv station in the world and by this virtue, we hope to grow to be the most preferred experiential icon locally as well as globally.
11. Who are the actual persons that operate Ansar Channel?-
Ansar Channel is indeed very lucky for the blessings of skilled and experienced people from the industry to run the whole thing. These people carry with them vast relevant experiences in their designated job scopes. Some of the young blood entrusted to run the operations of Ansar Channel have carved their names as the group of “men behind the screen” who paved the way to the pedestal for Islamic based alternative infotainment. In addition, skilled personnel in relevant media industry also join in the bandwagon making the total number of experience for Ansar Channel to exceed 50 years.
Ulasan